Digi-Trek Koushiro: First Officer's Log, Supplemental
by DPrime247
Summary: A collection of loosely-related one-shots mainly centered around Commander Henry Wok, the half-Vulcan First Officer of the USS Koushiro. These are in no particular order. Follow the Digi-gang from Adventure to Frontier as they boldly go where no kid (and 'mon) has gone before!
1. Gunboat Diplomacy

**DIGI-TREK KOUSHIRO  
First Officer's Log, Supplemental**

**The starship _Koushiro_ is back in action!  
**

**_First Officer's Log, Supplemental _is a collection of one-shots mainly centered around Commander Henry Wok, the half-Vulcan First Officer of the **_**USS Koushiro**_**. However, the whole Digi-gang is here and even some familiar Trek faces. Set around late-TNG/early DS9 &amp; Voyager. These are in no particular order, but are loosely-related for general continuity. These may also include OCs and crossovers with other series, which classic DTK was infamous for anyway. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Digimon and Star Trek and all official characters are the property of Toei and Paramount, respectively. All other characters/series featured in these stories are the property of their respective owners. OCs are mine unless otherwise stated. **

* * *

**Note: For those who have read the old DTK fanfics, this is more or less a semi-reboot. In keeping with the original stories, it'll feature characters from Digimon seasons 1 through 4 (sorry, I'm not too familiar with anything post-Frontier!) However, I haven't ruled out the possibility of including the others later down the road. Also, like the original, I'll be using English dub names. Here's a brief introduction to some of the crew:**

**Captain Izzy Izumi:** Highly illogical, irrational, and temperamental Commanding Officer of the starship _Koushiro_.

**Commander Henry Wok:** Half-Human, half-Vulcan First Officer aboard the _Koushiro_. It's his job to keep Izzy in line.

**Chief Engineer Mattgomery Spot:** (real name Matt Ishida) While not even remotely Scottish, Matt believes the fake accent and persona lend credibility to his engineering skills.

**Doctor Joe: **Officially known as the Emergency Medical Kidogram. Endowed with medical knowledge of hundreds of alien cultures and the expertise of 47 physicians, 12 quacks, and 3 witch doctors, the crew keep his program running continuously, rather than invest in a real ship's doctor. Due to his programming, he is often prone to irritability and anxiety.

**Lieutenant Ryo Akiyama:** Tactical Officer aboard the _Koushiro_. He has the physical appearance and personality of a 14-year-old boy, but is actually a 300 year-old time-traveler from the 29th century. He seems to have girlfriends and fangirls in every star system from many different species. You could say he makes things go boom in more ways than one.

**Lieutenant Rika Nonaka: **Brutally honest with a no-nonsense attitude, Rika is the _Koushiro's_ operations officer. She may or may not be romantically involved with Ryo, depending on her mood.

**Lieutenant Willis Eugene Paris:** No relation to Tom – honest. Willis is the _Koushiro's_ helmsman. He doesn't say much, and might snark a bit, but he's a decent pilot.

**Counselor Mimi Tachikawa: **She'll interpret your dreams while giving you the latest fashion tips.

**Ensign Takato Matsuki:** A poor expendable redshirt aboard the _Koushiro._ He's desperate for a promotion.

**Now that that's settled, on with the show!**

* * *

_Space… between Daisuke's ears,  
These are the voyages of the starship _Koushiro.  
_Its continuing mission: to conquer strange new worlds, to oppress alien life, and exploit naive civilizations.  
To break all the rules like no one has done before!_

**Gunboat Diplomacy**

Starfleet – it's not a career, it's an adventure. Sometimes, however, exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life just gets too predictable. Every now and then, a little wrench in the works can help liven things up a bit. An interstellar incident certainly fit the bill.

The Galaxy-class starship _Koushiro_ was patrolling the Neutral Zone. There had been considerable activity on the Romulan side over the last few weeks, so Starfleet wanted to maintain a presence. However, they probably should have reconsidered their choice of ship for the mission. No less than two days after arriving, Captain Izzy Izumi – in his infinite wisdom – sent an away team to an uninhabited, but disputed planet inside the Neutral Zone. Unfortunately, the team managed to make a mess of things and a wayward phaser blast disturbed (in other words, destroyed) some ancient ruins. The Romulan response was swift, and soon, the _Koushiro_ found herself toe-to-toe against a fully armed Warbird.

Now, it was up to Henry to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

"I'm sure we can come to an understanding," he said in a conciliatory tone, addressing the Romulan Commander on the viewscreen.

"You have committed an act of extreme aggression by sending armed forces into the Neutral Zone," the Romulan Commander replied smugly. "Such a deed cannot go unanswered."

"Away teams carry sidearms as part of standard procedure," explained Henry. "I assure you, we were on a peaceful survey mission."

"Your soldiers destroyed a two thousand year-old temple."

"Our _officers_ perceived a threat on a planet thought to be uninhabited."

"It was a deliberate act to desecrate a holy site and a significant piece of Romulan history!"

"It was an accident."

"It was an act of war against the Romulan Star Empire!"

Henry sighed. The man, however irrational, had a point. Why Izzy decided to send an away team to the disputed planet was beyond him. Then again, he rarely understood his Captain's eccentricities.

"You will lower your shields and prepare to be boarded," the Romulan ordered, his face filling the viewscreen as he leaned in closer.

Suddenly, Captain Izzy cut in. "Yeah, well you'd better not try anything funny or we'll nuke your ship back to the 12th century BC!"

Before the Romulan Commander could respond, Izzy closed the channel. He muttered something about it being a "boring conversation anyway."

"Sir, please let me handle this," said Henry. Additional 'help' from Izzy was the last thing he needed right now.

"Oh Henry, poor misguided Henry," Izzy said in a mock sympathetic tone. "You may be all logical and holier-than-thou, but you've got a lot to learn about dealing with these types!"

Henry raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure whether to be amused or offended.

"Sir, it is illogical to assume that such a threat, no matter how lame, will go unheeded," he said simply.

"Relax!" Izzy laughed. "It's just a little 'psychological warfare', Sun Tzu-ing, and all that stuff!"

Henry highly doubted that Izzy ever actually read _The Art of War_. However, Henry had to admit that he found Izzy's occasional bouts of illogic and recklessness somewhat refreshing, despite the trouble that often came with it. It reminded him of another 'space cowboy' Captain from another time and his own pointy-eared right-hand man.

Lieutenant Ryo Akiyama, the ship's Tactical Officer, spoke up. "Sir, the Romulan ship is charging weapons."

"Open hailing frequencies," said Henry.

"Belay _that!_" Izzy interrupted. "Go to red alert and charge _our_ weapons! We'll blow these guys out of the sky!"

"So much for 'psychological warfare,'" Henry quipped under his breath.

An alert klaxon sounded as the ship went to battle stations. Although Henry wanted to intervene and prevent the situation from escalating, he reminded himself that Izzy was still the Captain. Henry paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to use this show of force to his advantage. A confident smirk – or at least, it kind of looked like a smirk – crept up on his face.

"Since when do you smile?" Izzy asked, turning to his First Officer.

"I just got an idea."

"Sir, the Romulan ship is coming about," said Ryo.

"Lock phasers on target," replied Henry.

For a brief moment, Izzy looked at him incredulously. Then he grinned. "Now that's more like it!"

"The Romulan ship is hailing," Ryo advised Henry.

"On screen."

"What is the meaning of this?!" the Romulan Commander demanded. "You come into the Neutral Zone, violate one of our planets, and now you threaten to destroy us! Do your people want a war?"

"Commander, we both represent intelligent and powerful races," Henry began, his voice deceivingly calm – almost pleasant even. "The incident on the planet was regrettable. However, any further display of aggression is highly illogical. We both know you're not ready for an all-out conflict with the Federation."

"That remains to be seen," the Romulan Commander retorted. He motioned to one of his officers.

"Sir, they've locked disruptors on us," reported Ryo.

Henry remained cool and collected. He motioned to Ryo, who immediately locked torpedoes on the Romulan ship.

"I hope you'll return to Romulus unharmed," said Henry, in that same calm tone. Then, his face darkened. "Withdraw, or we will all die here."

"So be it," the Romulan Commander sneered.

The glare Henry shot the Romulan Commander stunned him into silence. If looks could kill, he'd have dropped dead from what would've looked like a classic Force-choke. In another time and place, the Romulan Commander would have found this all laughable. This bratty kid had to be no older than ten, and yet, here he was making threats that were far from idle. The very real prospect of mutually assured destruction in a hail of phaser fire and photon torpedoes seemed to do the trick.

"You have ten seconds to reverse course," Henry began, his voice still low. "Or I swear, I will blow your ass to kingdom come."

Henry swiftly closed the channel, leaving Izzy, who was silently watching the whole thing, visibly stunned. He turned to Izzy with a strange, grin-like expression of satisfaction, which really threw the Captain off. Vulcans simply do not – or even _attempt_ to grin.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ryo finally spoke. "Sir, the Romulan ship is turning away."

"What the bloody hellwas that?" Izzy asked, after what sounded like a mix between a choked laugh and sigh of relief.

"That, sir," Henry replied, "is called 'gunboat diplomacy.'"

"Is that right?" Izzy asked, still trying to process what just happened. "Never thought you had it in you."

"Oh yes," Henry said matter-of-factly. "There is an old Vulcan proverb – 'speak softly and carry a big stick.'"

* * *

**Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you liked it! I'll be writing these as time and creativity allow. I will definitely be updating, though, so please stay tuned for the next chapter. =)**


	2. The Dog-Rabbit Whisperer

**Written because I figured we'll need to have at least a few 'mons in a Digimon fanfic. ;)**

**Disclaimer: Digimon and Star Trek and all official characters are the property of Toei and Paramount, respectively.**

* * *

**The Dog-Rabbit Whisperer**

Henry walked down the long, deserted corridor without saying a word. He had just spent the last hour in Engineering listening to Chief Engineer Mattgomery Spot go on and on about how the upgraded plasma injectors would boost the ship's performance exponentially. "_Ach, she'll run faster than the 7:13 Trailmon to North Kilttown!"_ Matt had told him, faux Scottish brogue and all. It was late at night and Henry was deep in his thoughts. Coming to a junction, he took a right and proceeded down another empty stretch of corridor. Something, however, caught his attention.

"_Hen – ry~!"_ a child-like disembodied voice cried out.

Henry looked around; there was no one else in the corridor. He backtracked to the junction where he had made his turn. There was no one there, either. In his mind, he had half-expected not to find anything. Perhaps it was just his imagination playing tricks – the _human_ side of his imagination, no doubt. Thinking no further about the brief interruption of his thoughts, Henry continued on. Then, he heard the voice again.

"_Hen – ry~!"_ it sounded friendly, like it was inviting him to come out and play.

"Computer," Henry prompted, "can you identify any other personnel in this area?"

"Negative," the computer replied in a neutral voice. That piqued Henry's interest. This was definitely not his imagination playing tricks. But what was it, then? Was someone trying to telepathically communicate with him? Or was someone or something physically next to him that the computer couldn't detect? The voice sounded cheery and innocent enough, but it could also be a trap.

"_Don't act like you can't hear me!" _the voice called out a third time, in the same playful tone.

Henry wished he had a Tricorder that very moment. He needed to investigate further. Something was going on, and he couldn't rely entirely on the computer to help him.

"Henry to security," he said, tapping his combadge.

"Lieutenant Ryo here," a familiar voice replied over the intercom.

"Can you run a Level 3 security sweep?" Henry requested. "Scan for any life forms within a hundred meters of my location."

After a moment, Ryo reported back. "Sir, you're the only one there."

[ ... ]

Henry sat in the center seat of the _Koushiro's_ bridge, staring out at the vast field of stars on the viewscreen. Izzy had asked him to stand the watch, while he went off and did 'Captain things'. It had been a quiet shift so far, but Henry had a sneaking suspicion that that was about to change.

"Hey Ryo," said Henry, striking up a conversation with the Tactical Officer. "You never did find anything from that security sweep, did you?"

Ryo shook his head. "I even tried an interphasic scan. If there _was_ someone there, they didn't leave a single trace."

"Hen – ry~!" the same playful voice sang out again. This time, Henry was able to put a face to the voice. A small creature with light cream-coloured fur and big, floppy ears stood in front of him, waving cheerfully. It stood barely above his knee, and looked like a cross between a dog and a rabbit. All Henry could do was stare at it and wonder why neither he, nor any of the bridge crew, had seen it earlier.

"See me now, can you?" the creature said, taking a step towards Henry. "The name's Terriermon, but you may want to think twice before saying 'hi'!"

"Why's that?" asked Henry. A moment later, he had his answer.

"Who are you talking to, sir?" Ryo asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

Henry looked at Terriermon, then at Ryo, and then back at Terriermon. This _thing_ was standing in the middle of the bridge, all bouncy and animated, and yet Ryo couldn't see it? Willis and Rika, who were seated at the Helm and Ops consoles, respectively, turned around with bemused expressions. What was going on? They couldn't see it either?

"Hey, Spockhead – I mean, Henry," Rika began. She almost sounded concerned. "You okay?"

"This is… most intriguing," was all Henry could say. He still didn't fully understand what was going on. He knew, however, that only he could see and hear Terriermon. The dog-rabbit could've jumped on Willis' lap and he wouldn't feel a thing.

As if reading Henry's mind, Terriermon – with a mischievous gleam in his eye – suddenly made a beeline for Willis.

"Look out, Lieutenant!" Henry exclaimed, getting up from his seat. But it was too late. Terriermon had launched himself into the air, and a moment later, plopped down squarely on the blond-haired boy's lap. Willis didn't even blink.

"Should we be worried about something, sir?" Ryo asked hesitantly. His concern sounded genuine, but at the same time, skeptical.

Henry looked around at his fellow officers. "You guys – _none _of you saw that?"

"Saw what?" Willis inquired quizzically. The rest of the bridge crew shared his sentiment. They, too, were looking confused as ever.

Terriermon, still seated on Willis' lap, grinned as he looked up at Henry. "They can't see me~!" he teased in a singsong voice.

"What…?"

"I'm inside your _head~!"_

Henry hastily got up and made his way to the Turbolift. He was starting to lose his Vulcan cool – or his marbles. Before entering, he turned to Ryo and said "You have the bridge!"

[ ... ]

Henry paced inside the Turbolift, trying to find a rational explanation for what just happened. He racked his brain for an answer, but found none. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his head. Maybe he was just tired? Maybe he had just imagined everything. Maybe he was dreaming and could wake up at any moment.

"_Momentai!" _

Terriermon had appeared out of nowhere, and promptly jumped down on Henry's shoulder. The Vulcan boy managed to bite back the string of swear words that nearly escaped him. He eyed the Digimon on his shoulder with mild apprehension, but ultimately decided that he wasn't a threat.

"You're not going crazy!" Terriermon laughed, as if sensing Henry starting to question his sanity. "But, no one else can see me except you!"

"Who are you?" Henry asked. It was high time he got some answers.

"Like I said, the name's Terriermon!" the Digimon laughed, before adding, "And yes, I come in peace!"

"Are you…" Henry hesitated for a moment. "Are you real?"

"Of course I'm real!" Terriermon shot back, laughing and gently hitting Henry with one of his floppy ears. "We wouldn't be talking now if I wasn't, would we?"

A dawn of realization came over Henry. "Are you… a _Digimon_?"

Terriermon nodded. "'Bout time you figured it out!"

"But," Henry started to say, but then he paused again. "The Vulcan Science Directorate ruled that digital beings can't physically exist on our dimensional plane." He sounded doubtful at his own words, and Terriermon seemed to sense that.

"Well, why not?"

Henry sighed. Part of him still found this whole exchange rather illogical. "Digimon aren't corporeal. They can't exist outside of the Digital World. They'd need some sort of physical medium to… well… physically exist."

Terriermon looked at the boy thoughtfully. Then, his ears perked up. "Do you believe in Santa Claus? The Easter Bunny?"

Henry did not answer.

"Well, do you believe in guardian angels? Spirit guides?" asked Terriermon, trying to put forth more 'mature' examples.

"No," Henry replied, but that was only a half-truth. Deep down, beneath the logical, disciplined Vulcan exterior was a young boy who yearned to believe. From an early age, he had been conditioned to accept only what could be seen – and more importantly, what could be proven by science. Santa Claus, angels, and spirit guides – products of illogical _human_ fantasy – had little place in his mind.

Terriermon decided to press on. Despite his words, Henry _was _starting to open up. However, the Digimon knew he had to face the boy on his own terms.

"You said I need some sort of physical medium," the dog-rabbit posited. "Well, your brain, your _mind_ is physical, isn't it?"

Henry raised an eyebrow. He had an idea where this was going. "Curious."

"What about your heart?" Terriermon continued. "It's a living, beating thing. Now, deep down in your heart – if you believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny – wouldn't that make them real?"

Henry contemplated on this. Terriermon's argument may have been unorthodox, to say the least, but Henry conceded that what the Digimon was saying had some merit. Terriermon _could _exist in Henry's mind. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny… they, too, could exist in his heart – if he believed. It was certainly an interesting argument, but, Henry still was not wholly convinced.

"I'd tell you to prove it," he challenged.

"I think my being here – the fact that we're talking – is proof enough!" Terriermon said with a wink. He jumped off Henry's shoulder and down onto the floor. "I don't need to sing and dance, do I?"

"No…"

"Do Santa and the Easter Bunny have to come and do a song and dance?"

"That… won't be necessary."

Terriermon laughed. "Then _momentai,_ Henry! _Momentai!_"

"Somehow, I find it illogical to _momentai_ in the face of all this," said Henry. He couldn't help himself. In his mind, logic and reason still reigned supreme. He knelt down closer to Terriermon. He had a sincere look on his face. "I'd _like_ to believe you're all real, but…"

"Okay, here's one for you, Mr. Spock," Terriermon countered, trying a different angle. "Prove that we're NOT real!"

Henry was taken aback. Those words had a more profound impact on him than he'd anticipated or cared to show. For the first time, his Vulcan upbringing was being challenged, as his human side – the young boy who yearned to believe – began to assert itself. Conflicting emotions, thoughts, and ideologies stirred up within him, all vying for dominance. All this was brought on by a creature about a third his size. Standing back up, all Henry could say was "Fascinating."

Terriermon started bouncing up and down. He knew Henry still had a long way to go, but he'd finally gotten through to the boy. "Well then, it sounds like you're not getting rid of me anytime soon!"

"Even if I wanted to, I doubt you'd make it easy," Henry replied wryly.

"Think of me like… a guardian angel!" Terriermon said with a grin. "Or your spirit guide, if that's more your thing!"

"You know," Henry began, as he offered his hand which Terriermon promptly shook with an ear, "this might not be such a bad thing, after all."

For a split-second, Terriermon could've sworn he saw a fleeting smile on his new friend's face. Perhaps Henry felt it too, as he quickly cleared his throat and resumed his stoic, all-logical persona. He looked down at Terriermon, and with all the seriousness he could muster (with just a hint of a laugh), spoke quietly.

"Besides, I've always wanted a dog…"

Upon hearing this, Terriermon positively beamed as he jumped back on Henry's shoulder.

The Turbolift doors opened, and Henry strode out looking more confident. Maybe he wasn't losing his mind. Maybe… he'd just rediscovered his humanity.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that one! I've always wanted to work the kids' Digimon partners into the story somehow, so now Terriermon is here to help Henry 'keep it real'. I also have to give credit where credit is due – re-watching ROTG helped me approach the ending with a different angle than what I'd originally planned. But, when inspiration hits, you sort of just go with it!**

**On a related note, I'm not quite sure who coined the term 'dog-rabbit', but it's how I've come to describe Terriermon. ;) **

**As always, thanks for reading! 'Til next time…**


	3. In Space No One Can Hear You Blue Screen

**Here's a bit of a throwback to a classic DTK story and the TNG episode that inspired it… hope you like it! :)**

**Disclaimer: Digimon and Star Trek and all official characters are the property of Toei and Paramount, respectively. While I **_**do**_** own a copy of Windows, I don't own Microsoft. ;)**

* * *

**In Space, No One Can Hear You Blue Screen**

_Captain's Log, stardate 47612.6. The _Koushiro _has detected a mysterious object in orbit around the planet Karuba III. Against my wishes, we're taking a closer look because my wonderful First Officer says we're supposed to be explorers! Naturally, I have a feeling this thing is gonna come back and bite us in the—_

"Assume standard orbit, Captain?" Henry asked, motioning to the viewscreen. "We're here."

"Do _I_ interrupt you when _you're_ recording a log?" Izzy huffed, crossing his arms.

"We can always circle the star system while you finish up," offered Henry. He seemed unfazed by the glare the redhead gave in reply.

"Let's just get this over with," grumbled Izzy.

"Very well, sir," said Henry. He thought it best to take the high road and not give Izzy's hostile behaviour any sort of response. "Ryo, anything on sensors?"

The Tactical Officer studied his instruments. "I've got something off the starboard bow. Bearing zero-three-eight, mark twelve."

"On screen," said Henry.

A cylindrical object slid into view. It had solar panels on either side that looked like small wings. Along the top and bottom were strange markings that appeared to be some sort of alien language, but not one that any of the bridge crew could immediately recognize. The object was adrift, with no indication that it was moving under its own power. In fact, it appeared to be dead in space.

"Alright, I've seen enough!" snapped Izzy, rising from his seat. "Go to red alert."

Ryo hesitated for a moment, but then sounded the alert klaxon. The bridge lights dimmed as backlit panels on the walls pulsed with a soft, red glow.

"Captain, isn't that a bit premature?" questioned Henry. "There has been no indication that this object poses a threat to us."

"Poor misguided Henry," Izzy said with a patronizing gesture. "You'll never make Captain with _that_ attitude!"

Henry managed to quickly suppress the affronted look on his face. However, it was almost as if Izzy had a precognition. All of a sudden, the object began to emit an eerie blue glow. A bright white light illuminated the strange markings. The object now appeared very much alive, with just a hint of menacing. It seemed to grow larger on the viewscreen as it closed the distance between itself and the _Koushiro_.

"Alright," said Izzy, his eyes focused intently on the object on the screen. "Back us away, slowly…"

"Hey Izzy!" Rika called out from the Ops station. "I'm reading a massive energy surge coming from that thing!"

Ryo glanced down at his console and then looked back up, a puzzled expression on his face. "Captain… the object is either scanning us or getting ready to fire!"

A beam of bright blue light shot out of the object and crashed against the _Koushiro's_ shields. The bridge crew lurched in unison as the ship reeled from the hit. Alarms went off at several consoles, indicating that the ship may have taken some damage.

"Okay, _definitely_ not a sensor scan!" Ryo reported, laughing slightly.

"Alright guys! It's ass-kicking time!" Izzy said confidently, punching his hand with his fist. "Ryo, give me phasers and photon torpedoes!"

The Tactical Officer's fingers flew across his console as he worked to get the weapons loaded and calculate the optimal firing arcs.

"Well, that escalated quickly," Henry deadpanned. Nonetheless, he made his way to the Tactical console to assist Ryo.

Another beam impacted against the shields. The force was enough to knock Izzy back into his seat.

"Where are my damn torpedoes?!" he demanded, turning around and glaring up at Ryo.

With his finger hovering over a big red button marked 'FIRE', Ryo took a brief moment to strike a heroic pose. "Hasta la vista, baby."

The _Koushiro _let loose a full spread of photon torpedoes at the object, which was preparing to fire yet again. Perhaps it was a bit overkill, as torpedo after torpedo rained fiery destruction down on the object, which shattered into countless pieces from the resulting explosion. The shockwave that followed rocked the ship slightly on impact. Just as soon as it had started, the object was gone.

"…hasta la vista, baby?" Rika groaned, giving Ryo a look that was a mix of confused, amused, and annoyed.

"It's, um… it's a line from a movie," Ryo replied awkwardly. He then adopted an indignant expression. "Oh, come on! Don't tell me you've never heard of the Terminator!"

Rika and the rest of the bridge crew simply stared at him with blank expressions. Ryo surmised that they probably weren't all that familiar with Arnold Schwarzenegger or the _Terminator_ series. It had been over three hundred years, after all.

"Well, I know what we're watching next movie night!" he said, quickly returning to his usual cheery self.

"Now that that's done and over with, we should get going," said Izzy, who was all too eager to leave. "Willis, lay in a course for Starbase 411, warp 6."

The blond-haired pilot input the necessary coordinates into the helm. "Course set."

"Engage!"

Nothing happened.

"Hey flyboy, I said 'engage!'" said Izzy, tapping his foot impatiently.

Willis checked the readings on his console. "The helm's not—"

Before he could finish, the _Koushiro_ suddenly blasted off on its programmed heading and speed. That was definitely odd, but stranger things were about to happen.

••••

Henry stood alone in the Turbolift as it headed down to Engineering. He wanted to look further into the strange delay that occurred with the engines earlier. He could hear the mechanical whirring of the elevator seemingly growing louder as it continued its descent, but, initially thought nothing of it.

"Computer, halt," Henry said, expecting the Turbolift to stop at the next deck.

The elevator didn't stop moving. Instead, the whirring grew even louder, raising Henry's concern. However, nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

"Computer, emergency stop!" Henry ordered, with a little more urgency in his voice.

"_Unable to comply. LiftControl. exe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down," _the computer replied in its calm, female voice. This didn't sound good at all.

The Turbolift stopped briefly. Thinking the emergency stop might have kicked in, Henry made his way to the door. He had barely taken two steps forward when the elevator started moving again. This time, it began a rapid freefall down its shaft.

To say that Henry wasn't at least somewhat frightened would have been a lie. However, his emotional discipline took over immediately. He struggled to keep his feet firmly planted on the floor as the massive g-forces pulled him towards the ceiling. He only had seconds before the elevator would reach the bottom of the shaft, where certain death awaited. If only he could reach the control panel by the door; he might be able to activate the manual override.

"_It looks like you are trying to stop the Turbolift," _said the computer, stating the obvious. _"Would you like me to help?"_

"Yes!" Henry groaned. Both feet were now off the floor and he was slowly floating towards the ceiling. "Emergency stop!"

The computer beeped in compliance. The Turbolift stopped abruptly, and Henry fell to the ground with a painful thud. Before he could get up, however, the elevator shot forward through a horizontal shaft. The force knocked Henry back and pinned him against the wall.

"Computer, I said 'stop!'" yelled Henry. This was really starting to push him to his limits.

"_Attempt to restart LiftControl. exe has failed. Insufficient resources," _the computer simply replied.

Reaching the end of the horizontal shaft, the Turbolift proceeded to freefall down another vertical shaft. Henry needed to get to the control panel. This had to end now.

"_The creator of this fault did not specify a reason," _reported the computer, as if trying to explain its unusual behaviour.

After what felt like an eternity, Henry was able to reach the control panel by the door. Pulling off the cover and examining the insides, he identified what appeared to be the override switch. Keeping his fingers crossed that this would work, he gave it a yank.

"_Manual override engaged. Initiating emergency stop."_

_••••_

Henry staggered into Engineering, still heavily traumatized from his wild ride in the Turbolift. Thankfully, his Vulcan cool prevented him from showing it (mostly). Without it, he would have been spewing out all sorts of colourful curse words that were highly inappropriate for a ten-year-old boy.

"Oi, laddie!" Chief Engineer Matt called out in his usual faux Scottish brogue. Noticing the drained look on Henry's face, he added, "you alright?"

"Never felt better," Henry grimaced. "Though I have the sudden urge to… _kill_ whoever invented the elevator."

"Well, they'll be long gone by now, lad!" Matt laughed, slapping Henry on the back. He failed to notice the deadly glare the Vulcan boy shot him.

"So, what have we got?" asked Henry, wanting to change the subject.

Matt gestured to the Master Systems Display on the wall, which featured a large cross-section image of the ship. He pointed to several blinking red lights. Next to each light was a small grey box containing seemingly nonsensical text. However, one particular red light caught Henry's attention. It was next to the warp nacelle. The accompanying box had a big red 'X' on the left-hand side.

"Kernel32 caused an invalid page fault in module PlasmaRegulator. dll at 0137:bff74966…" Henry mumbled, reading the text aloud. He had never seen that kind of error message before.

"_That's_ why the ship didn't jump to warp immediately… I think." Matt explained, although he himself seemed doubtful at his conclusion.

Henry studied the other messages on the screen.

'_Runtime error 217 at 0270F382.'_

'_A required DLL file, UniTrans32. dll, was not found.'_

'_The exception 0xc0000096 occurred in the application at location 0x0040bc27. Click OK to terminate. Click CANCEL to debug.'_

"It's like nothing I've ever seen before," Matt shrugged, unable to offer much assistance. "I'd trade ya my house in the Hebrides fer a way to translate this gibberish."

Henry was tempted to ask if Matt had ever even been to Scotland, but ultimately decided that was a discussion best saved for another time. Re-reading the last error message, he felt compelled to click either 'OK' or 'CANCEL' and see what would happen. At the same time, he knew that doing so would be illogical—and highly risky—considering how little he understood the error. For all he knew, either option could inadvertently activate the ship's self-destruct system.

"Wait, are you sure that's safe?" Matt questioned, as if reading Henry's mind.

"Only one way to find out, I guess." Henry sighed. Part of him could not believe he'd just said that.

"If you accidentally blow up the ship, I won't tell the Captain," Matt said with a wink.

Henry's finger hovered back and forth indecisively between 'OK' and 'CANCEL.' It was now or never. In a rather human move, he closed his eyes and let fate decide for him.

The effect was instantaneous. Nearly every computer display in the room suddenly went blank, only to be replaced by a bright blue screen moments later. The whole ship seemed to shudder as the engines abruptly disengaged and the _Koushiro_ came to a screeching halt. Alarms began to go off as smoke billowed out of vents in the walls and sparks flew out of several consoles. All around, engineers and other crew members scrambled to get things under control. Unfortunately, they weren't quite sure with to do. They simply ran around trying their best to avoid the smoke and sparks more than anything.

"_It looks like you're trying to shut down the warp core," _the computer announced calmly. _"Would you like me to help?"_

"No, don't shut down the core!" Henry replied quickly. Unfortunately, the computer had other plans, it seemed.

"_Runtime error: Core32. exe has terminated in an unusual way," _the female voice reported a moment later.

Other aural warnings from the computer soon followed. Each one sounded more bizarre than the last.

"_Not ready reading drive A. Abort, retry, fail?"_

"_An error occurred while displaying the previous error."_

"_A fatal exception has occurred in the Lavatory Control Subsystem. Could not write to memory. Press any key to initiate dump."_

"Oh, my poor lass!" Matt howled, practically in tears. "She's hurtin', the poor girl!"

"Oh, for the love of—" Henry growled, his patience wearing thin as he jabbed at one of the blue screens. "Seriously?!"

A rapid beep cut through the noise. Neither Matt nor Henry even had a chance to acknowledge it when Izzy's voice bellowed over the intercom.

"_Did you guys just break my ship?!"_

_••••_

Matt and Henry entered the bridge looking like they'd just finished running a marathon. Rather than put their lives in the hands of a potentially homicidal Turbolift, the two decided to take the scenic route—climbing countless ladders and crawling through a vast maze of Jeffries Tubes.

"Welcome to the bridge, gentlemen," Izzy greeted them sarcastically. "So good of you to finally join us."

He immediately diverted their attention to the viewscreen. Instead of offering a spectacular view into the cosmos beyond, the screen had a rather mundane-looking block of white text against a blue backdrop. It was not unlike the blue screens Henry and Matt had encountered down in Engineering.

"Care to explain?" asked Izzy, waving a hand at other consoles on the bridge. Most of them were displaying the same blue screen.

Matt gave Henry a 'friendly' slap on the back. "Hoo boy, laddie! Who woulda thought pressin' _one_ button would lead to all _this?"_

Henry's eye twitched. Not bothering to hide his irritation this time, he threw Matt a dirty look, as if to say _'Thank you for just ratting me out!'_

Apparently, Izzy caught the hint. He rounded on his First Officer. "_You _did this?!"

"Oh, shut up!" Henry snapped, before grudgingly adding _"sir."_

The awkward silence that followed remained unbroken until a voice cried out _"Wait a second!"_ The bridge crew turned their attention to the source of the sudden outburst. It was Ryo. His eyes were focused on the viewscreen in some sort of awestruck gaze.

"Windows!" he said, almost in a whisper.

"Come again?" asked Izzy.

"I can't believe I didn't see the signs earlier!" Ryo cried out excitedly, still not making much sense. "Yes! It's all coming back now!" He began typing away rapidly at his console.

The image on the viewscreen changed to that of a plain, yet strange interface that the others had never seen before. On the top left corner were several icons bearing titles like 'My Computer,' 'My Documents,' and 'Recycle Bin.' At the bottom of the screen was a light grey bar that contained a few smaller icons, including one at the very left that said 'Start.'

"_Windows_, guys!" Ryo repeated, pointing to the interface on the viewscreen. "This is Windows!"

"No, that's the viewscreen," Izzy insisted, as if explaining to a child.

"Guys, this is an old Earth operating system called Microsoft Windows," Ryo explained. "It was immensely popular in the 20th and 21st centuries. I never thought I'd see it again!"

"Somebody call Sickbay," Izzy said dismissively. "Ryo's officially gone crazy!"

"No," Henry cut in. "I think he's on to something."

Izzy crossed his arms. Whatever Henry just clued in on, he wasn't following.

Taking Henry's cue, Ryo tapped a few keys on his console. The viewscreen image instantly switched to a more colourful and familiar-looking LCARS interface. However, at the center was a grey text box that resembled the Windows interface. The box contained a large red 'X' and the words 'unhandled exception' beside it.

"This here," Ryo said, pointing at the box, "this is a Windows error message."

Suddenly, the lights flickered and the image on the viewscreen was replaced by a block of white text on a blue background once more.

"And that," Ryo continued casually, "is called the Blue Screen of Death."

Henry raised an eyebrow at the peculiarity of the name.

Ryo then brought up an image of the alien object they'd encountered earlier. He overlaid a small video of it firing on the _Koushiro_, along with what appeared to be a detailed analysis of the blue beam it shot out

"And _this_ is where it all came from!"

••••

It took a few more tries to get everyone to connect the dots. Ryo hypothesized that the shots the alien object had fired wasn't an attack, but rather, an attempt to communicate. Further analysis revealed that each shot contained a data stream, one of which was carrying a copy of the object's native operating system—believed to be Windows. Because the crew destroyed the object before it could finish its data transfer, the incomplete copy of Windows must have mutated and subsequently tried to overwrite the _Koushiro's _existing LCARS operating system. Predictably, the less-advanced (and incompatible) Windows struggled to maintain control over ship's comparatively modern and complex systems. Ryo surmised that LCARS was still trying to fight back the 'infection.' That would explain why the computer began to exhibit Windows-style errors, while at the same time, could still partially function like normal.

Now, the crew had to find a way to get rid of Windows and return the computer to its original state.

"Why don't we try pulling the plug?" Matt suggested jokingly. "Who knows, maybe the computer will forget it's been actin' like a numpty all day!"

Ryo's eyes widened. "That's it!"

"What's it?" asked Matt, slightly panicked. "Lad, I wasn't serious! Ya pull the plug on a system like this and…"

He made a gesture that seemed to suggest the ship would blow up, or that they would all die horrible deaths, at the very least.

"Yeah, guys!" Izzy seconded Matt. "Stop trying to destroy the ship!"

"Please, sir, just hear me out," Ryo implored. "It's called a 'system restore.' They did it all the time in the 21st century."

"_Borgus frat!_" Matt exclaimed. "_All_ the time? What kind of bonkers technology were people running back then?"

Ryo laughed. "Okay, maybe not _all _the time. But it was a common enough practice."

"Common enough…" Matt shuddered, alarmed at how Ryo could approach the topic so casually. "Thank God we don't live in the Dark Ages anymore!"

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Ryo explained. "We can reboot the computer in Safe Mode and purge Windows from there."

Matt and Izzy looked horrified at his suggestion. Henry, however, looked like a light bulb had just come on in his head. He realized where Ryo was going with this.

"If we wipe the computer clean," Henry pondered, "we can then reload the LCARS backups from protected memory."

Izzy turned to his First Officer with a _'not you too!' _look.

Noticing that Izzy was getting quite uncomfortable with the plan, Ryo looked at him reassuringly. "I promise; we won't destroy the ship."

"Do you swear on your life?" Izzy pressed, still looking somewhat unconvinced.

Ryo nodded reluctantly. In his mind, he knew it probably wasn't the wisest idea to bet his life on nothing going wrong. When it came to technology, _something_ could—and usually would—go wrong. It was just the way the universe worked.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Izzy relented, resigning himself to Ryo's idea. At this point, he didn't have much of a choice.

"I guess we'll leave you to it, then, laddie!" Matt told Ryo, slapping him on the back in a 'good luck' sort of way.

The Tactical Officer did a double-take. "Wait, what? I thought you—"

"_You're_ the expert on this Windows thing," Izzy explained. "We'll let you take care of it!"

"Sir?"

"What's the matter, Ryo? Afraid you'll destroy the ship?"

••••

Ryo stared apprehensively at the screen in front of him. The window was completely blank, save for the text 'C:\WinCARS\Desktop' and a blinking cursor beside it. The rest of the bridge crew watched him with bated breath, waiting for him to enter something—_anything_—and see what would happen next.

"Well?" Izzy prodded impatiently.

Ryo took a deep breath and turned to face the others. "You know, guys, it's been ages since I've had to even _look_ at a command line interface."

"But you have experience working with them, right?" asked Henry.

"Sure, I've used the DOS prompt once or twice…"

Rika, who had been silently observing everything the whole time, was losing patience. She grabbed Ryo by the collar.

"I thought you said they did this all the time in the 21st century," she said testily.

"Yes, they did. _Other_ people did," Ryo started to explain, "I might have picked up some stuff along the way, but… I wasn't… I didn't stay for very long, and—"

"Type something already, you blockhead!" Rika screamed. "If your time-traveling geekiness won't kill us, _I _will!"

Ryo frowned. He certainly didn't like being called a geek. However, he reminded himself that he was likely the crew's only hope. He slowly began typing out 'rstrui. exe_.' _Holding his breath, he pressed 'Enter.'

Nothing happened.

••••

Nearly half an hour passed, and Ryo had made very little progress with each system restore attempt. The computer simply wasn't cooperating. Ryo was getting more and more irritated by the minute, as evidenced by how hard he was jabbing at each key as he typed, and the occasional snarl, immediately followed by a fist pounding on the console.

"Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" Henry asked. He sounded genuinely curious and a little concerned.

"I'm _trying_ to access a directory in drive _C_," Ryo said slowly, typing in the same command for the umpteenth time. "But it keeps telling me…"

He pointed to the screen, which displayed the message '_Not ready reading drive A. Abort, retry, fail?'_

"And when I do _this…_"

The screen flickered and promptly displayed an all-too-familiar block of white text against a blue background. Henry could not help but share Ryo's frustration. He, too, had come to despise the Blue Screen of Death.

"So much for our 'expert,'" Izzy muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Ryo to hear.

"Why don't _you_ give it a try, O Captain, My Captain?!" Ryo raged. "Maybe you'll cause a _freaking_ warp core breach!"

Rika cast a glance at the two of them, but said nothing. Even she knew better than to provoke Ryo, who looked quite ready to bash the screen (and possibly someone's face) with his fist, a sledgehammer, or some other blunt heavy object.

Perhaps even the computer sensed the rapidly rising tension. What happened next caught Ryo—and everyone else present—completely off-guard.

"_It looks like you are trying to delete Windows,"_ a familiar female voice said. _"Would you like me to help?"_

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed that one! And yes, the computer **_**did **_**actually help them restore things to normal in the end. I feel I should also say that, for the record, Henry and Ryo _are_ fairly tech savvy. However, Windows' quirks can sometimes try the patience of even a saint. ;) **

**Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time!**


End file.
